The After math of Travel

---

Everyone always plans for travel; where they will go, what they will do and how they will get there, but the thing you never think of (or I never thought of) was what happens when you come home. I returned to Canada nearly a year ago from a 7 month trip - see previous posts- yet it has taken this long to see how much it has altered my perspective on things.
I am writing this post from my desk, in my post graduate school in St John's Newfoundland where I am writing my Masters degree on Children's Right to Play - a topic, by the way, that I decided on while travelling Thailand. (Impact one of travelling- picking a masters topic I had never even given a second thought too)
While I watch the spring storms move across the landscape of St John's I realize I have become what I most feared.... restless. That's the thing about travelling for such a long time.. you come back and feel like you are in limbo.. simply waiting for the next lag of your trip. It's not right, I know this, to sit and feel this way but it's a feeling that so many travellers cannot shake, as it's the addiction of travelling working through your system. Through Travelling you gain stories, experiences, personal growth or relapse and perspective on what is important to you..... it's only when you make it back home that you realize you've changed so deeply; but no one else has grown this way with you. This is where no one speaks about the consequences of travel, the powerlessness you feel as you feel like you have been placed on periphery of the happenings with your friends and the realization that they won't feel what you have felt as you stand on the rocks of the south pacific and feel like you are flying as the spray hits your face or watch a kea bird chase you down the block - they are personal experiences you must come to realize no one else will be THAT excited about them as you... they're your memories that will form your social landscape differently. It is here that you step out onto the ledge of life and realize you have to jump into the sea of the unknown in order to experience this thrill in everyday life. So a year ago this month I returned to Canada.... I now realize that as I feel like an outcast in my own world sometimes it's merely my mind trying to meld my experiences with my life now... with time it gets easier.. but does this mean I am forgetting those experiences that placed me so far from the central concept of home?

---